Nov 19, 2021
Dear Petitioner,
Thank you for contacting me regarding the petition submitted on the Change.org website about reinstating the Night Tube to help improve women’s safety.
I passionately believe that everyone has the right to feel safe travelling everywhere in our city. In recent years the shocking murders of Nicole Smallman, Bibaa Henry, Sarah Everard and Sabina Nessa have rightly led to increased scrutiny of the actions being taken to make public spaces – including public transport - safer for women. I want London to be a place in which everyone feels safe moving around any part of the city at any time of the day or night, but we know that too often, women and girls travelling, working or going out at night, do not.
Following months of hard work and preparation, the Night Tube is set to return on the Central and Victoria lines on Saturday 27 November 2021. As we approach the busy festive period, the restoration of these lines will provide women, girls and all Londoners and visitors to our capital with a quick, convenient and safe means of travel.
The safety and security of all who use the network will always be my primary concern and Transport for London’s (TfL) top priority. Every day there are thousands of dedicated transport staff on the frontline of the network whose role is to support customers. There are also 500 TfL enforcement officers patrolling the entirety of the network in addition to an extensive CCTV network and over 2,500 police and police community support officers.
At the start of the COVID-19 crisis, due to a combination of staff shortages and plummeting demand, TfL was forced to suspend Night Tube services to help ensure it could keep London - and its heroic keyworkers - moving safely during the day.
Training for Tube drivers also had to be suspended and whilst sufficient drivers are now available on the Central and Victoria lines, training remains to be done on the other Night Tube lines (Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly). This training is now underway and all efforts will be made to return Night Tube services on remaining lines as soon as possible. The return of these lines must also be coordinated with vital upgrades to the Tube network and the necessary engineering closures and timetable changes.
While the Night Tube has a clear role to play in helping women feel safer in our city, it is just one of many measures I have introduced.
Extensive night bus services continue to run throughout the night with well over 100 routes operating, whilst over 600 organisations have now signed up to my Women’s Night Safety Charter, which aims to make London a place where all women and girls can feel safe at night.
Organisations that sign the Charter pledge to:
• Design public spaces to ensure they are, and feel, safer for women at night
• Train staff to ensure all women who report incidents are believed, and ensure all reports are recorded and responded to
• Nominate champions who promote women’s safety at night in that organisation.
TfL is a signatory of the Charter and is currently working in collaboration with women’s safety stakeholders to make public spaces safer.
Thank you for engaging with this important issue and highlighting the continued need to work together to improve safety for women and girls travelling across the city.
Yours sincerely,
Sadiq Khan
Mayor of London
Thank you for contacting me regarding the petition submitted on the Change.org website about reinstating the Night Tube to help improve women’s safety.
I passionately believe that everyone has the right to feel safe travelling everywhere in our city. In recent years the shocking murders of Nicole Smallman, Bibaa Henry, Sarah Everard and Sabina Nessa have rightly led to increased scrutiny of the actions being taken to make public spaces – including public transport - safer for women. I want London to be a place in which everyone feels safe moving around any part of the city at any time of the day or night, but we know that too often, women and girls travelling, working or going out at night, do not.
Following months of hard work and preparation, the Night Tube is set to return on the Central and Victoria lines on Saturday 27 November 2021. As we approach the busy festive period, the restoration of these lines will provide women, girls and all Londoners and visitors to our capital with a quick, convenient and safe means of travel.
The safety and security of all who use the network will always be my primary concern and Transport for London’s (TfL) top priority. Every day there are thousands of dedicated transport staff on the frontline of the network whose role is to support customers. There are also 500 TfL enforcement officers patrolling the entirety of the network in addition to an extensive CCTV network and over 2,500 police and police community support officers.
At the start of the COVID-19 crisis, due to a combination of staff shortages and plummeting demand, TfL was forced to suspend Night Tube services to help ensure it could keep London - and its heroic keyworkers - moving safely during the day.
Training for Tube drivers also had to be suspended and whilst sufficient drivers are now available on the Central and Victoria lines, training remains to be done on the other Night Tube lines (Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly). This training is now underway and all efforts will be made to return Night Tube services on remaining lines as soon as possible. The return of these lines must also be coordinated with vital upgrades to the Tube network and the necessary engineering closures and timetable changes.
While the Night Tube has a clear role to play in helping women feel safer in our city, it is just one of many measures I have introduced.
Extensive night bus services continue to run throughout the night with well over 100 routes operating, whilst over 600 organisations have now signed up to my Women’s Night Safety Charter, which aims to make London a place where all women and girls can feel safe at night.
Organisations that sign the Charter pledge to:
• Design public spaces to ensure they are, and feel, safer for women at night
• Train staff to ensure all women who report incidents are believed, and ensure all reports are recorded and responded to
• Nominate champions who promote women’s safety at night in that organisation.
TfL is a signatory of the Charter and is currently working in collaboration with women’s safety stakeholders to make public spaces safer.
Thank you for engaging with this important issue and highlighting the continued need to work together to improve safety for women and girls travelling across the city.
Yours sincerely,
Sadiq Khan
Mayor of London
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